The Union
Group Name: 'The Union '''Other Names: '''Regular Joes and Janes '''Group Type: '''Compact '''Endowment: 'Your Friends and Neighbors 'Overview: T'he blanket name for a broad range of local groups made up of average, everyday people who earn an honest living by day and hunt the paranormal by night to protect the families and homes they've worked for. These hunters use the tactics of group collaboration taken from labor unions, and focus on their strengths of community ties and practical skills. History From time to time, the labor movement has organized towards more than improving working conditions; they have also worked to protect what their members have worked for. From 19th century England, to Australia in the 1970s, people have risen up to protect their fellows. All of them were local or regional cells and usually sporadic, ending when the threat had been ended, or when the threat ended them. Then in 1999, the leader of one such organization, Holly Ramirez, realized her group was far from the only one when doing some internet research. Using that same resource, she began to bring together these cells, hoping that a larger organization could get more accomplished than several smaller units. The first boards met with issues, mostly in members being identified and eliminated, but the Union has since become more secure and invitation-only. Purpose The Union is probably the simplest of the compacts in terms of its goals; they don't seek to shake up the world or explain the supernatural. They don't care what the monster is. They simply want to protect their families, homes, and communities from the dark threats that more legitimate authorities won't or can't handle. That said, members of the Union don't limit themselves to the supernatural. Any company that shortchanges its workers with staff in the Union will soon find themselves picketed or worse. Organization Membership to the Union webpage is by invite-only; potentials are investigated by both nearby members and network administrators who carefully research their background. If the potential member proves worthy, they are invited to join the network, where they have access to forums, research, and funding for weaponry and medical treatment, and, if all goes wrong, funerals. They also offer support to family who had members in the Union, but lost the battle. The three factions within the Union are: * Home First: Take the acronym NIMBY, Not In My Backyard, to heart. The second a monster or man starts to make trouble in an area controlled by a Home First cell, they are quickly set upon and ejected from the area. Members of the faction gain a Names and Faces specialty under the Streetwise skill. * General Strike: Hold to the idea that they must be more proactive in their hunts. They prefer to go out into the area they frequent, finding the enemies that hunt them before the creatures can make it to their homes. Among the Union, it is known for having a high proportion of casualties. Members of the faction gain a Campaigning specialty under the Politics skill. * ''Politicals:'' '''The most vocal and active members of the Union, going so far as to partake in terrorist actions to prove their point about what they fight for. Their targets are not limited to monsters, either. Business magnates and company heads are more than perfect targets for the Politicals. Members of the faction gain a Recruitment specialty under the Persuasion skill.